All of the young Ancient Dragonfolk and Fierce Ogrefolk were lined up, sitting on their knees on the ground. They had each displayed resistance at first, but after being defeated many times, they seemed to have realized the gap in our strengths, and now they were quite docile.
“I-I’m not...done yet...”
“I as well...can still...fight...”
That is, excluding their respective leaders.
“Like hell a proud Ancient Dragonfolk like me...is gonna lose to this...nobody...”
“O great Fierce Ogre Ancestors... Lend me your strength...”
The two of them should have been pretty badly hurt, but them lying on the ground and glaring at me made for a rather intense sight. Despite the state they were in, I thought they seemed just a bit scary.
“Hey, Tailtiu, do you know their names?” I asked.
“This is Gram, and that’s Gyes,” she replied.
“I see, so the Ancient Dragonfolk Gram and the Fierce Ogrefolk Gyes.”
Although it didn’t seem like they would be getting up anytime soon, with how much power they possessed, it made sense that they were the leaders of their respective groups. They must have been still developing, but they’d probably end up as strong as Elga one day.
“By the way, why were you two fighting?” I asked.
Still lying on the ground, they silently glared at each other for a moment before averting their eyes. Apparently they weren’t in the mood to answer me. I wondered whether I should ask the others, but then Tailtiu tugged at the hem of my shirt.
“The Ancient Dragonfolk and Fierce Ogrefolk adults both tell them to fight to get stronger,” she said.
“I see...”
I heard from Elga that they were on bad terms, but they originally started fighting because the adults told them to?
“Let me guess: When they actually started fighting, they genuinely started to dislike each other?”
“Indeed...”
“Hey! Tailtiu, you traitor!” Gram interjected.
“T-Traitor?! You guys won’t even let me fight together!”
“You already know your Ancestor, so this has nothing to do with you!”
“T-True, but... I still want to join in...” Dejected, Tailtiu hung her head.
The fact she wasn’t talking back seemed to imply that there was some reason for why they were excluding her. I had assumed that it was just because she was too strong and made the fights unfair, but apparently that wasn’t all.
“Hey, what does he mean, you ‘know your Ancestor’?” I asked.
“You know that I’m an Ancient Dragonfolk whose Ancestor is Bahamut, right, darling?”
“Yeah, you’re always saying it, after all.”
When we had first met, she had said something like, “My name is Tailtiu! My Ancestor is the Divine Dragon Bahamut, and I am the mightiest Ancient Dragon on this island!” The residents of this island generally mentioned whose descendant they were when they introduced themselves.
“As for the Divine Beastfolk, Elga’s Ancestor is Fenrir, Livia’s is Leviathan, and Gaius’s is Behemoth, right?” I said.
“Indeed... You may not know this because you mostly meet adults, but those who haven’t awoken to their powers yet don’t actually know whose descendant they are.”
“Oh, I see. So that’s why Luna doesn’t say who her Ancestor is.” With my video game knowledge, I’d just assumed hers was the nine-tailed fox or something similar, but apparently she didn’t know who it was in the first place.
“Ancient Dragonfolk and Fierce Ogrefolk especially value power, so it’s tradition for them to repeatedly fight like this to get stronger and inherit the name of their Ancestor, but...”
“That’s why it’s not right for you to butt into our fights, because you awoke and inherited your Ancestor’s name before us!” Gram said.
“Aye. We are not simply battling to amuse ourselves,” Gyes said.
“Hmm...” I said.
Regardless, I now understood the situation. They were fighting in order to awaken and learn the names of their Ancestors, so the presence of Tailtiu, who had already awoken, definitely didn’t sit well with them. They weren’t just fighting for the fun of it. There had actually been a legitimate reason for excluding Tailtiu beyond her simply being too strong.
“But you want to join in, don’t you, Tailtiu?” I said.
“Yes... I don’t like being excluded by everyone and being called a loner...”
I squatted, so as to make my line of sight level with the two groveling on the ground.
“You heard her, so how about you let her in?”
“Were you even listening?! I’m saying this isn’t her business!”
“If we did let her in, it would simply end with her crushing all of us. Awakening to and inheriting one’s Ancestor’s name is too significant...”
“Huh? But, you know...” I lowered my voice quiet enough as to be inaudible to Tailtiu and the others sitting nearby, and whispered, “Don’t you two already know your Ancestors’ names?”
Gram and Gyes looked up at me with stiff expressions, so shocked that they were at a loss for words. I beamed at them.
“I don’t know your reasons, but are you really sure what you’re doing is all right?”
“Ah, uh, wha...”
“Ngh, hng...”
“See, I’m Tailtiu’s friend, so I want to see her with a smile on her face.”
She was like an adorable little sister, attached to me since the first time we had met. She insisted she was my wife, but well, that wasn’t important right now. Seeing her always so bright and full of energy made me happy too. So, I didn’t want to let her feel alone.
“Darling?” Tailtiu said.
“The three of us are going to have a talk, so hold on a moment, okay? Oh, and the rest of you can sit at ease.”
I seized Gram and Gyes by their shoulders, then picked them up in order to move them away from everyone else. The island’s residents had all sorts of incredible abilities, so I dashed over to a place where I was positive we wouldn’t be overheard.
“Now then, why don’t you tell me what’s really going on?”
“Ngh?!” they grunted in unison.
“I’m going to get this out of the way first: No lying, all right? If I sense that you’re hiding something... I’ll tell everyone your secret.”
“I-I get it! I get it already!” Gram said.
“Don’t tell them, I beg of you!” Gyes said.
Then, when I pressed them, it turned out to be no big deal at all. Apparently, they had seen how the others treated Tailtiu, but they had still wanted to fight and were afraid that they’d be cast out as well if they were found out.
“So that’s how it is...”
The adults knew how great their power was, so they made sure not to wield it recklessly. The children, on the other hand, would kick the two of them out for being different.
Gram and Gyes had power in abundance and they wanted to keep on using it, but they had been unwilling to lose that opportunity forever. In the end, they were still just children.
“So, you kept it quiet that you awoke, and you suppressed your powers while fighting together with the others, then?”
They were silent.
I could understand how they felt, if only a little. If a student suddenly became a working adult the next day, it wouldn’t be easy for them to give up everything they had enjoyed up until then. The two of them must have been unable to simply accept having to leave their friends.
“But when you cover up lies with even more lies, you’ll lose sight of your true self,” I said.
Gram eventually said, “I know already.”
“Yes... And we are aware that things cannot go on like this forever,” Gyes added.
They both nodded solemnly.
They definitely couldn’t have imagined that how they treated Tailtiu would come back to bite them. That was precisely why they were so conflicted now. But judging from how remorseful they seemed, I could tell that, like her, they hadn’t meant any harm.
“All right! Gram, Gyes, let’s do this!”